World War III
by Writer Under The Stairs
Summary: OC'S CLOSED! What if Magneto was right about war? full summery is AN in first chap. read please!
1. Elly and Jove

**AN~ This takes place about twenty-five years after **_**X-Men: Evolution**_** ended. There were the Uneventful Years, a seven year span between the last episode and the beginning of World War III. Now, WW III has been going on for fifteen years, the war is, you guessed it, between mutants and humans [the humans started it, well just the Kelly Program (which shall be known as K-Pro)]. **

**Now before I start the story there are some things you need to know: civilization has downgraded back to small colonies here and there with no real ruler, government, or laws. There are family's with no mutants in them what-so-ever, they will be referred to as "Pure bloods" (yes, the phrase from Harry Potter) now, if a mutant is born into a "Pure blood" family, the family looses all social status in the colony that they live in (kinda like in Harry Potter when a Squib or Muggle is born into a pure blood family). **

**Now, since it's been twenty-five years after Evolution ended, most of the characters in here will be OC's, so feel free to submit them in a review (include Name, power, age, if they were born into a "Pure blood" family or not, and their back story). The last thing you need to know for this story is that the words in italics are a voice over, and the words not in italics are what's going on. That will only be for the beginning in the first chapter though. Thanks for clicking, and enjoy!**

_No one said anything about war. _

Soldiers rush past with two wounded being carried between a few survivors.

_No one said anything about death, especially to those so young._

Children being rushed to the medical wing, some with broken ribs, and some not so lucky.

_No one said anything about how bad this would get._

Mutants of all ages fighting against the human exterminators, the mutants running out of numbers.

_Because no one knew._

No one would have ever guessed war was what was coming, well one poor soul did, but the rest of us were too stupid to realize that he was right. No one would have guessed it would last for fifteen years so far. Because no one wanted to. They all wanted to think that Professor X was right; that there'd be peace. No one knew how wrong he was. Everyone wanted peace; even me, and I was born into the war.

My name, well, in the midst of war, no one cared to give me a name. I named myself though, Artsiv. And I am a mutant. A disgrace to my human family's name. A monstrosity. A freak. I have to admit though, I _love_ my mutation. I won't bore you on the painful transformation, but I can turn into this huge eagle, a bigger than life eagle. I could carry Colossus in my talons, I'm that huge.

But, if you did read above, you would have noticed that it's painful to change back and forth, it also takes about two hours to transform completely, so most of the time I stay in my human form. My appearance in human form is a bit intimidating, I am about six foot (and I'm only fourteen!), I have brod shoulders, not an ounce of fat, and some people say my eyes are scary. Their this deep amber color with tinges of red. My hair color is also the color that my feathers are when I change, a rusty brown of sorts.

"ARTSIV!" I'm snapped out of my internal monologue by my name being called "Artsiv! Come on! We've got a lot of people who need help. Stay focused!" it was Jean Grey, my adviser. She had been looking older and older these past few weeks, and now I could see a few wrinkles on her face and a few gray hairs in her fiery main.

"Okay, Okay. No need to yell." I say back. I continue to look around me, searching through the disfigured bodies of my friends and enemies for those still alive. I heard a cough from under one of the assassins that was sent in. I could tell by the insignia on his black clad shoulder that he had been part of the Kelly Program. I pushed him out of the way to find two girls, they were dirty and afraid.

"Are you mutants?" I asked.

One of them nodded and she then asked, "Are you?" I couldn't pinpoint the accent, but it wasn't from here. I nod and she looks at me in disbelief. "Prove it."

I spread my arms wide and will my russet-brown feathers to sprout from my skin. I can control my mutation to the point of only sprouting wings for arms, or talons for feet, e.t.c. The little girls look at me in awe.

"Now it's your turn," I say softly. They both look at me for a second and then nod. One takes off her gloves and the other holds up her bare hand.

"Don't blame us if you get hurt," the smaller one said. They touched only fingers and before I know it there is a ball of light growing from their joined hands. They pulled away and the ball of light disappeared. "It only works for a few seconds."

"That's amazing." I say calmly. I make sure to keep my voice soft so I don't frighten them. They only looked to be about eight years old. "Come with me, I know a place where you'll be safe." I hold out my hands and they each took one.

"Where are we going?" the smaller one asked.

"We'll be going to a camp. It has a lot of people who are going to take care of you. They're friends of mine," I was trying to be as upbeat as possible, there was no need to bring the little girls down.

_Artsiv! _I heard the shriek in my mind and dropped the two girl's hands.

_Jean! Jean? Where are you? What's going on?_ I send back through the telepathic link between us.

_They're after you. Run!_ I felt the connection sever and I was now utterly alone.

"Keep low to the ground! If all else fails, act dead!" I quickly whisper to the two girls. They nod and drop to their hands and knees.

"Whats going on? Why do-" one started. I felt the bullets coming before I could actually hear them. I crashed to the ground and covered the two girls with my body, determined to keep them safe. I heard them both scream when the bullets landed somewhere to my left.

"Keep quiet and act dead," I whispered, I felt them nod against my chest. I sprang up and started to run, making sure to do this as loudly as possible. I took a chance and looked behind me, there they were. Three K-Pro assassins.

I ran as fast as I could. I don't know how long I ran, I don't know how many times I got shot at and managed to miss the bullet, before one hit me. I felt the all too familiar sting of pain in my lower thigh, almost hitting my knee. I cried out with pain, faltered on my next step, and spent the next few yards breaking the fall with my face. I pulled myself off the ground and spit dirt and a few drops of blood out of my mouth. I checked my teeth, and felt that they were all there and not loose. I went over the damage in my head.

_Forehead: fine;_

_Nose: broken;_

_Lips: split and bleeding._

_Teeth: safe and secure._

_Chin: throbbing and raw but Okay;_

_Arms: fine;_

_Chest:fine; _

_Right Leg: fine;_

_Left Leg: shot, but missed the artery;_

_Feet: fine._

I took a chance and looked at my leg. Blood was pouring from the bullet hole, and I was thankful that it went through the other side so I won't have to yank it out. I stripped of my shirt and ripped it into long strips and made a bandage type thingy. I put it to my leg and pressed as hard as I could. I noticed that the bullet hadn't gone through the bone, only muscle. Thats good I suppose, no cast. The K-Pro assassins catch up to me and one aims at my head, one aims for my neck, and one aims for my heart.

Damn.

Damn, damn, damn!

"Put your hands above your head, and stand up slowly," one barked at me. I put my arms above my head and wince as more blood comes out of my leg.

"He said 'Stand up slowly.'," one of the others said, checking the safety on his gun.

"If you haven't noticed, I can't move my leg," I spat at them. I looked back down at my leg; more blood was coming out. Does anyone else feel dizzy?

"Young man, I think it'd be wise of you to stand," there was something different in the third one's voice, a sort of calming air to it.

_Artsiv, don't worry, I'm trying to get them under control, Professor's_ voice rang through out my mind. Great, well this is _juuuuuuuust_ great. Hallucinations. Most people, when they hallucinate, see something to the effect of a dancing walrus coming toward them to take them to the land of marshmallow's. What'd I get? A voice inside my head that sounds like the Professor's. I feel cheated.

_No Artsiv, _came Professor's voice again, _I am not a hallucination. _Which is exactly what every hallucination would say._ I'm standing right in front of you._ I put my arms down and pressed harder on the now blood soaked shirt strips and attempted to make the bleeding stop.

_A tourniquet, Artsiv, take your belt off, tie it tight just above the bullet hole, and press with the strips,_ Professor told me. I did as he said and kept pressing. The blood flow came to a slowing halt.

I looked back up to the three K-Pro agents. Two of them seemed confused, and one seemed to be in control. Professor. I watched as he sent the two assassins off in the opposite direction.

"Professor?" I asked.

"Yes, Artsiv?" he asked back.

"What about the two little girls back there? What if a K-Pro finds them?"

"I sent them a little message and they should be here soon. Now, put on arm over my shoulder, and I'll help you back to camp." I nodded and put my left arm over his shoulders, leaning on Professor for support.

I bet most of you are wondering, _WHAT? PROFESSOR CAN'T WALK! WTF? _Well, a few years into the Uneventful Years, Professor had a power surge. He figured out how to transfer his consciousness into a different body. He had been working on this for awhile before the surge, and had made himself a clone (a younger clone). After putting his consciousness into the clone, he was able to walk.

"Hello?" I heard a small child's voice call out from somewhere behind us. Professor turned us slowly around and I saw the two little girls I had found.

"Hello, Elly. Hello Jove." the Professor greeted each of the girls. The smaller one (Jove) saw my leg and pointed it out to Elly.

"We can help, you know." Jove said, pointing to my bullet wound.

"Would you help?" I asked. They nodded and turned to each other. Elly took off a glove and they touched fingers again. The same ball of light grew from their fingers and as it touched me I felt this warm feeling seep it's way into me. Like a breath of fresh air, the warmth of the sun (a rare thing, the sun had been behind smoke clouds for as long as I can remember), the feel of green grass. All too soon it was gone. I looked down at my leg; no bullet hole, not even a scar.

"Thank you." I said, getting my arm off of Professor's shoulders and holding out my hands for the two girls. They each took one and we started off toward the camp.

"Professor, where's Jean?" I asked, the thought of her striking me. Professor's face seemed to darken as he searched for her brainwaves, trying to locate my adviser.

"I can't find her," he looked at me, "Take Elly and Jove to the camp, I'll go look for Jean."

"I'll meet you back at camp," I said, turning with Elly and Jove still holding my hands. The camp that I keep talking about is just tarps and canvas threaded in between trees with a few cots, blankets and pillows, a Morse Code receiver, and a few electronics that are out of battery's. Sometimes, if a mutant comes around who can control electricity they'll get the electronics back to full battery, but one hasn't come around for about a year. We also have cooking stuff, and an old well. The only way we can drink the water is if the pyromatic mutant here boils it for a good minute. We don't have a lot of food, what we do is go into the colony closest to us and buy food when we can, and steal when we can't.

"Who's gonna be at the camp?" Jove asked, looking up at me with her big green eyes.

"They're friends of mine, I think you'll like them. They're going to help take care of you." I looked back and forth between Elly and Jove. "Would you ming telling me what happened before I found you?"

"Well, we were running with our mom, but there were lot's of us, lots of mutants, running around us. We got separated and we spent about a day by ourselves when the K-Pro's started coming for us." Elly started, looking from me to the ground. "Thats about when you came." I nodded and we continued in silence to the camp.

"Artsiv!" I heard. I dropped Elly and Jove's hands and turned to face Scott Summers. "Where's Jean?" he asks me.

"We were out looking for survivors of the last attack and I found these two," I pull Elly and Jove in front of me, "So I started back. I was on my way here when three K-Pro's came. I left Elly and Jove and ran to distract them. Professor was posing as one and drove the other two off. He did a quick sweep for Jean, but couldn't pick up anything. He's out looking for her now." I had to yell the last part because Scott had started to walk away.

"And who do we have here?" Nov'c asked sweetly.

"This is Elly and Jove." I say, pushing them a bit to Nov'c. She smiled at them, trying to distract their gaze from her bright purple hair and scar on her forehead.

"Hey, how are you guys?" Nov'c asked like we weren't in a war, like most of our mentors hadn't already died, like nothing bad has ever happened to her.

"Fine, are you one of his friends?" Jove asked politely.

"Artsiv?" Nov'c points up at me while she sits down on the dirt covered ground, "To tell the truth, he's not that interesting." I gave her a wounded look. "But, since he delivers my letters sometimes, I guess we're friends." I gave her a smile, and seeing how Elly and Jove sat down in front of Nov'c and were now in pleasant conversation, they didn't need me anymore.

I went over to the old Morse Code receiver. No one was sitting at it, so I sat down, waiting for a message.

**AN~ So, first chap, what did you guys think? (if you didn't read the top AN, you need to! **

_**NEED TO KNOW!:**_** I will not be updating this quickly Okay? Don't expect quick updates!**

**Rawr! rawr rawr rawr rawr! Rawr? oh, you guys don't speak dinosaur? That was: Review! Review review review review! Please?**


	2. Brave Eight Year Olds Can Get Us Through

**AN~ here is the second chapter! Thank you to those who reviewed and meh to those who didn't!**

**To KK Renee: the Kelly Program was named for their founder, Edward Kelly. But yeah, it's funny.**

**To Raimaru13: Thanks for the 2 OC's, I hope I did a good job of bringing them to life.**

**Artsiv**

I have no idea how long I've been sitting at this small desk in this way-too-small-for-me chair. But I do know that when Nov'c shook me awake that my butt was numb.

"Artsiv!" she was basically screaming in my ear. "Come on! Wake up! Get off your ass and run!" it wasn't like Nov'c to cuss.

"Wha. . . ?" I asked, still half asleep.

"They're here!" that got me to wake up. I sprang to my feet and did a quick 360, and I saw them. Thirty or so K-Pro assassins. I looked for Elly and Jove, spotted them coming toward us. I picked them both up and followed Nov'c out into a full fledged mutant vs. K-Pro battle. I scanned for Scott, Professor, and Jean. I wanted to know if they had made it back last night.

"Artsiv! This way!" Nov'c, who had a very loud voice to begin with, had to scream just for me to hear her. I followed Nov'c, with Elly and Jove still tucked tightly in my arms, into a small cave that I had to crouch just to stand. I looked down at Elly and Jove, they looked shocked. More like catatonic.

I sat them down and looked around. Nov'c was near the back, trying to keep it together, Elly and Jove looking catatonic, and me. Just standing here. I kneeled down in front of Jove. She was so small. I watched her, she didn't pay attention to anything I did. Elly was the same, watching, but not seeing. I looked to the opening of the cave when I heard loose dirt falling and moving from two sets of footsteps.

I got in front of Elly and Jove, Nov'c came up beside me, ready to jump into action if the two people coming were K-Pro's.

"Do you think we lost them?" one voice asked. I saw two outlines, walking toward us way before Nov'c would have. Due to my mutant ability my eyesight is enhanced and a lot better than most people I've met.

"Who's there?" Nov'c called. In an instant I was pinned to the back of the cave with some sort of bone-ish spike going through my shirt and into the cave wall. Nov'c was completely fine, standing to the side because she got out of the way of the spike with some ninja move that looked like it came strati from a Jackie Chan movie. It most likely did.

"Who are you?" another voice asked. The two outlines kept coming toward us but, thankfully, didn't notice Elly and Jove. When they came close enough for me to see them, they didn't look that much different.

They were both on the short side; one had straight brown hair, the other had straight black hair; both of their skin was on the pale side, but the one with black hair's skin was a bit tanner; they were both skinny and lean; the brown haired one was wearing a black undershirt and black sweat pants, the other was wearing the same thing except with a red undershirt.

"We asked you first," Nov'c said, coming out of the shadows and standing in between them and Elly and Jove. "So your first to answer." Nov'c held her head high and raised her chin defiantly.

"James, and this is my brother, Damion. We're just trying to get away from the damn K-Pro's." James, the one with black hair and a red undershirt, said.

"Now, who are you?" Damion asked.

"Let him go first." Nov'c said, motioning toward me. James walked up to me, put his index finger and thumb on the bone thing attaching me to the wall. His fingers seemed to vibrate, as did the bone, and after a few seconds, the bone disintegrated.

"Who are you?" James asked, walking back over to Damion.

"I'm Nov'c, this is Artsiv," Nov'c pointed to me, "and these two are Elly and Jove." Nov'c pointed out the two girls for the first time to James and Damion.

"Are you four like. . . us?" Damion asked. As I watched him with my enhanced vision I noticed that his fingers and hands twitched every few seconds, and his shoulders were almost always stiff.

"If your asking if we're mutants, then yes." Nov'c looked James and Damion in the eyes. Nov'c, in the grand scheme of things, is not a large person. She's only about 5'5'' and is as skinny as a twig, but James and Damion were about eye level with her.

"What do you do?" James asked in a harsh tone, "shine people to death with your hair?" Nov'c's next move was so fast even _I_ had trouble following it. In one, fluid, decisive movement Nov'c had cought and pulled James' hair and had pulled his face close to her's.

"No, that's not my powers, and, in the future, I wouldn't be so rude." Nov'c was hissing in his face so low I could barely hear them. I turned my gaze over to Damion, who looked like an armadillo. He had these bone looking plates all up and down his torso.

Damion started to lift his arm to Nov'c, making the motion needed for a punch to the temple. Nov'c seemed to sense this rather than see it, and moved out of the way but she still had a firm hold on James' hair. As Nov'c moved back, James moved forward, taking the place Nov'c had just been. Damion's fist collided into the side of James' head. Nov'c released her hold of James' hair and was now face to face with Damion.

"What the _hell_?" James and Damion said at the same time, looking angrily at Nov'c.

"Don't be rude to me, and don't try to punch me. You think people would get the Go Away vibe, well, that'll teach me to assume anything ever again." Nov'c walk calmly away from Damion and James. Damion decided it was a good time to try another attack.

He raised his fist again, and was about to hit Nov'c on the crown of her head. When he was a hairs breath away from punching her head in, Nov'c spun on her heel, cought his arm at the wrist, flowed with the momentum, and was now crouched over Damion who had just landed flat on his back.

"What is you power?" Damion asked when he had gotten his breath back.

"Mimicry, and memorizing," Nov'c said dryly, "And I watch Jackie Chan movies."

That was about the most threatening I had ever seen Nov'c, but I still had the urge to burst out laughing. I watched as Nov'c turned her back on the two boys and went to take care of Elly and Jove.

James, who was helping his brother up, looked at me and asked, "Who's Jackie Chan?" **[1] **

"Nov'c's hero." I said plainly. James and Damion seemed to take this as a good enough answer and turned to watch Nov'c taking care of Elly and Jove. I watched the scene, feeling utterly useless.

"I'll see if anyone saw us." I said. Nov'c nodded without turning to face me, and Damion and James nod as well. I walk out of the small cave and look around, making sure to look up too.

"Artsiv?" I looked to where the voice was coming from and saw Professor walking toward us. "Artsiv. Did anyone else escape?"

"Yeah, Nov'c, Elly, Jove, and two other guys. I think they were new to the camp, I've never met them before." I answered.

"What are their names?" Professor asked.

"Damion and James."

"Well, they were new to the camp, but not to the X-Men. When they were young their parents were killed by Kelly Program agents, they've been with the X-Men ever since." Professor said to me as he walked past and into the cave.

"Professor?" he turned and faced me, "Where are Scott and Jean?" his face became emotionless and his blue eyes dropped.

"They were cought." his voice was hollow, and seemed to loose that calming factor it usually has.

"They got cought?" I just couldn't believe this, "They're two of the _original_ X-Men! Two of the best trained! How could they have been cought?" Nov'c had heard what was going on and came to stand beside me.

"If they got cought, then we have no hope." this was not Nov'c! She's and optimist by nature! She couldn't have just given up! I looked over to Elly and Jove, they seemed to be watching what was happening, an improvement from the almost unblinking stare that they had before.

"Jean and Scott?" James spoke up now, "Like _the _Jean and Scott Summers?" **[2]**

"I'm afraid so," Professor mumbled.

"We've got no chance," James whined.

"What is this?" We all looked over to little Jove who had spoken, "Is this the fearless fighting mutants that I've heard about? Or just a bunch of wusses?" we all felt a pang of guilt at this, "Shouldn't this be the time people start yelling 'When the going get tough-er, the tough get going'? What happened to all the mutants who wanted to win this war? What about all of you who wanted so badly to have a chance against the K-Pros? Well here is your chance! Take it."

Speechless.

Completely and utterly speechless.

I actually heard crickets.

How could an eight-year-old be braver than all of us?

"Do you know what they do to mutants who get cought?" Damion asked, almost shaking.

"I think it'd be best not to share this one." Nov'c said, noticing the looks on Elly and Jove's faces.

I sat down in the shade, the closest to the entrance. I let the rough stone of the cave wall help me process what had just happened. In less than a minute, my world had been uprooted, turned upside down, kicked in the gut, and the left to die in the desert. I pulled my knees up and let my head rest on one.

"Artsiv?" I felt Nov'c shaking my shoulder to wake me up. "Me, Professor, and James are going to get food, Okay? Watch Elly and Jove." I nodded, still half asleep, and Nov'c went over to grab her old worn backpack then walked out of the cave opening with Professor and James. I looked over to Damion, who was piggy-backing Jove and Elly, to their delight.

"So, what do you do?" I asked. Damion turned and put Elly and Jove down gently, then turned to me.

"I armor up." I was about to question what 'armoring up' was, when bones started to grow from his entire torso.

"What do you do?"

"I turn into a huge eagle. Takes awhile though." I answered. Damion nodded and let the bones sink down into his skin. He sat down against the rough rock wall, Elly and Jove sat down to a staring contest.

"How long does it take?" Damion after a few minutes of silence.

"Few hours, give or take. But it doesn't take long to change parts of me though." we fell silent then, letting it sink in. Jove won the staring contest. I tuned into my surroundings, trying to hear or see an enemy before they heard or saw us. I heard a footstep, right outside the cave. I turn my head slightly, just so that I can barely see around the curve of the wall thats hiding me from the entrance. I see a black clad K-Pro.

"Damion!" I barely breath to him. His head snapped up and he looks at me. "Ready to fight some K-Pros?" an almost evil smile came to his face, and he nodded as bones covered his torso.

Damion tapped Elly and Jove, whispered to them what was going on, and then pushed them against the cave wall so they were out of sight.

"On the count of three." I mouthed, Damion nodded. "One," Damion cracked his knuckles, "Two," He made sure Elly and Jove were out of sight, "Three." there was a momentary pause, like the world had stopped to take a breath before me and Damion spring into action.

**AN~ Cliffie! So how fast will I need to run? Review and I'll update quicker!**

**1: well, if they've been in war for fifteen years they all wouldn't have time to watch Jackie Chan!**

**2: We _all_ know they would've gotten married in the end.**


	3. Why I Sort Of Hate My Powers

**AN~ I was basically freaking out at how many reviews (FIFTEEN! AND A FEW PM'S!) I got! This is awesome! I do have one thing to say though, I know how with the first two OC's I added them into the story almost instantly, but that won't happen a lot. Sometimes, like when I find an opening, but there won't suddenly be all these random characters. Enjoy the chapter and review!**

**RawrMeans I Love U In Dinosaur: watch for your OC! Hope I did a good job at bringing her to life! Rawr-rawr rawr rawr.**

**Cloudy-TheNightMareQueen: Your OC is in here too! **

**Erugophobia: your OC's is here too! **

**Wisdom-jewel: look for your's too!**

**After this chapter, I'll just tell you if there are new OC's in the chap or not, it's up to the reviewer the find their OC.**

**Artsiv**

Action. All there is in this war ridden world is action. Sometimes I get really sick of it, but times like now, when I'm beating the crap out of a few K-Pros, it's kind of thrilling. I looked around the cleared area me and Damion were fighting in, there were about three more K-Pro's.

I was about to go after the next K-Pro in my sight when I felt a hard fist connect with my jaw. I followed the momentum and swung my fist wide, only to hit air. I shrugged it off and continued toward the K-Pro.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry!" I heard. I turned back to where my hand had gone through air. There was a girl there now. Well Okay then. She was tall and slender, with black bobbed hair that looked almost dark gray. Her eyes were blue, a really bright baby blue, her skin was tan and freckled, and she was covered in scars.

I gave her a questioning look (my jaw hurt too much to even move).

"I'm Madi, I'll talk to you later." she gave me a smile and went back to kicking and punching K-Pros. I followed her lead and went back to fighting. I looked around to see how many K-Pros were left, about five (they just kept coming!), when all of a sudden, I couldn't see anything anymore. I rubbed my eyes, trying to get whatever was in them out, and when that didn't help, I opened my eyes more.

Doing this stung as all hell, but I kept them open. I spread my arms and willed my feathers to come out, after they were out I started flapping. I was rising up off the ground and the higher I rose, the better I could see. When I was high enough I saw that what was in my eyes was a thick black smoke. I looked around the large cloud, trying to find the source.

It was a girl, her mouth was open and black smoke was pouring from it. The only thing I could tell about her from this high up was that she had long black hair and tanned skin. Her eyes were unusual, though, they seemed to be glowing. I flattened my arms to my sides, putting my head before my feet. I was rushing towards the ground from about a thousand feet up. I let the flow of adrenalin go through my bloodstream and I was about to crash. At the last second I spread my arms wide, catching myself before I face-planted.

I landed down sloppily, messing up my footwork and crashing down on my stomach. I've not really practiced this "landing" thing. The girl heard me and turned around, the black gas had stopped coming from her mouth.

With no warning she ran at me, trying to get a hit or a kick in before I could dodge or block it. She was a fast person, striking hard and perscise. It was a bit scary actually. I watched her movements with my raptor vision, picking up on the slight muscle twitch before she would move. I finally had to take the offensive, and tightened the muscles in my legs. When I saw the perfect opening, I moved at once. I flowed through the air like a shadow, silently and fluidly, I moved beside her, stretching out my arm and clotheslined her. She fell flat on her back and I bent down and held her shoulders.

"I. . . am not. . . your enemy." I rasped between breathing. I had never thought I could move that fast. She nodded and I let her shoulders go.

"Who are you?" she asked. Her shoulders and arms seemed ready to fly to my neck if I even moved a toe toward her.

"I'm Artsiv, I have a few others with me. Who are you?" I eyed her warily, closer up and when she's not moving, she doesn't really look that threatening. She was shorter than Nov'c, only standing at about 5'1''; she was skinny and looked almost to the point of starving (unfortunately, thats how most people looked now a days); her hair was tied back into a low pony-tail, it was long, about down to the middle of her back, black and had a bit of a shine to it; her eyes weren't glowing anymore, they were oval shaped and bright green.

"I'm Olivia, you can call me Liv or Livi. There are two others with me, Madi and Katie." Olivia said. She looked at me up and down, judging me by what I look like. I felt a flush of guilt when she visibly flinched from my eyes. I stood, letting up on her shoulders and offered her a hand. She ignored my hand and walked back over to the smoke cloud. She walked right into the gas, not caring if she would get lost or anything. I thought about following her, and decided against it.

I spread my arms wide, let my rusty brown feathers sprout from my skin, and I flew. I soared up as high as I could go without having to change completely. I focused my mind to my breathing, I was up so high the air was a lot thinner. After I regulated my breathing, I focused on what I saw. I was looking for the town Nov'c, Professor, and James had gone into. I searched for a few minutes before a small clump of buildings shot up. I angled down just outside of them, making sure I was landing in the forest of trees that surrounded the town. I pulled my feathers back in and began forward.

I was at the edge of the town now, calmly watching all the anti-mutant homo sapions. They were minding their own business, nodding to each other as they passed by. Even if I looked like a human, I would still stick out like a sour thumb. I'd be too jumpy, I'd look too paranoid, I'd _be_ too paranoid. I waited for a gap in the seemingly never endless stream of people to walk into the small town. I looked around, looking for Nov'c's purple hair, Professor's lean and lanky frame, or something that would show me my friends.

As I was looking around, a large group of people gathered into a crowed. They seemed to be talking amongst themselves, not giving a care to anyone outside the group.

"MUTANT!" there was a shrill cry from the far end of the U shaped town. I instantly was in a defense position.

_I've been found! How many an I up against? Will they have guns? Could I fly? Can I defend myself? _These thoughts and more were racing through my mind, but then I realized something; everyone was running away from me. Or towards someone.

I dashed after everyone else, easily seeing over everyone's heads to find what they were seeing. A few of the front people had started to pick up rocks and sticks, throwing them at a pour soul. Fury blurred my vision red and I marched forward. I blocked the rocks and sticks with my back, taking most of the blows.

"Get out of the way you moron!" a voice called out, reaching my ears it sounded like fingernails scraping a chalk board. I ignore them all and kneeled in front of the poor mutant who was now in the fetal position, silently crying.

"_Just stop it_!" I boomed over the crowed. The rocks and sticks stopped flying immediately. "Don't _you moron's_ see what the hell your doing?" this question seemed to hit too close to home.

"It's a danger to us and the community!" a voice yelled at me.

"What was it doing then?" I countered. They had no answer. "You are all raceist! Your discriminating because of something someone can't control! Are you that stupid? Could you be that self centered and evil? And you think we're the bad guys!" bad choice of words.

"So you're one too?" a womans voice yelled. I narrowed my eyes and glared at her.

"Does this answer your question?" before anyone could say anything else, I spread my arms and feathers began to grow. "God has sent me to see if you were ready for redemption." I droned, making myself look dark, "The Father has sent me to test you. This was a test. And you failed." **(ten points to anyone who notices this quote from **_**Maximum Ride**_**)** the last three words seemed to freak everyone out.

"We didn't know!" "Give us another chance!" "We plead forgiveness!" were just some of the shouts, the others had started to pray. I looked down at the mutant that had almost been stoned to death, she was getting up and actually smiling and laughing at the scene I had just caused. I looked into the crowed to see an on-the-ground-rolling-in-laughter Nov'c, a smiling James, and Professor shaking his head, but smiling none the less.

I took the opportunity of momentary power to actually do some good here.

"Now," I boomed, "To redeem yourselves, you must be kind, friendly, and unharmful any mutant who you come across! If you do not hold up this redemption, God will not let you enter eternal paradise." Everyone in town was now gaping at me, waiting for the next words that will come out of my mouth. I raised my arms above my head and motioned for the gathered humans to separate. They did, and I led the mutant behind me to the end of the U shaped town, I looked back and saw Nov'c, Professor, and James following.

When we were safely in the woods Nov'c grabbed my shoulder and forced me to turn around. "What the _hell_ was that?"

I watched her, and couldn't help but let a wide smirk cross my face when I answered, "Brilliant, on-the-spot thinking. Besides, I saved a mutant _and_ helped countless others who might happen to come across this town. _In three minutes._ You have to admit though, that was impressive."

"Artsiv, yes in your place at your age, I would have done the same thing, but what you did, might not work out as well as you thought." Professor said, thinking way too deep on the subject, "What about the atheists in the town? They'll point out key things that the religious people failed to notice, like the fact that their 'angel' might have been a mutant as well. That could make an uproar from the people who were fooled, making it even more dangerous for mutants than it was before."**[1]**

_Way to rain on my parade, Professor._ I thought to myself, keeping it as far away from Professor's mind as mentally possible.

"We need to get back to Elly and Jove! After you all left, K-Pro's came. I came to get you. We need to get back!" I remembered Elly and Jove all of a sudden, still in the cave. What if they were found?

"You left my brother?" James asked, sounding furious.

"Yeah, it was either stay with him loose, and get captured, or come here and get you three." I defended myself immediately.

"You left my brother!" James yelled and started toward me, I got into a defense pose.

"And if I didn't come and get all of you, then we would have lost, gotten captured, and then you would have been on a wild goose chase trying to find us!" I yelled back.

"James! This is no time to turn on our own!" Professor said, taking James by the shoulders to hold him back, "Now, we need to focus on getting back." James nodded and I went back to my normal posture. "Artsiv, could you fly us there?"

"Not all of you, it takes awhile to change completely, but I might be able to take one of you at a time." I answered the Professor's question.

"How long would it take?" Professor asked.

"About three minutes each, and that's not adding the wind if I'm flying into it." I said. Nov'c licked her finger and held it out.

"Its at our backs," she informed.

"Then about two minutes, if I fly really fast."

"Then what are we waiting for? Lets go!" James said, annoyed that we were still discussing the matter. We all turned to the Professor, waiting for his decision.

"Alright, James you go first." James nodded and went over to me.

"How does this work?" he asked.

"Put your arms around my waist, and hold on as tight as possible." he nodded, and did as I said. Awkwardness followed. I willed my feathers to sprout, wincing a bit at the bee sting like feeling of them coming out of my skin. I started to flap my arms as hard as I could, managing to whap James in the head once. Soon my feet were off the ground and I rose higher and higher, my arms starting to tire.

I had this theory, Angel from the X-Men, he was not a strong person, sure he was strong for a human, but in the mutant community, he wasn't that strong. But his wings were. They could carry him, and twice his weight. When I didn't have anything that looked like feathers out, my arms were inhumanly strong. My theory is that my arms muscles were the same as Angle's wing muscles.

I looked down at the ground below me and James, trying to spot out the clearing. I found it and started my decent. When I was a few feet off the ground, about seven, I looked down at James.

"Jump!" I yelled. He let go of me and fell to the ground, landing with a roll. I started back toward the Professor and Nov'c. The wind rubbed my face raw in a matter of seconds, and I flew as fast as I could. It was much easier now that I didn't have the added weight of James. I made it back to Professor and Nov'c in three minutes. I landed and the mutant I rescued grabbed on to me next.

"Hold on." I told her, and I started to get off the ground once more. She was much lighter than James, and way easier to carry. I got to the clearing in two minutes. The wind had stopped, so there was no wind resistance on my next trip. I landed and Nov'c grabbed onto me, I started this process all over again. I got to the clearing in two minutes. I went back for Professor. He held on to me and I started to gain altitude for the last time until I dunno when. By this time my arms were seriously going to give out any second.

"Professor?" I asked, trying to remain calm.

"Yes Artsiv?"

"Could you get adrenaline to start going with your telepathy? I'm not sure how much longer I can keep flying for."

"I can try." I felt the mental hands of Professor trying to get into my mind, let him. I felt him trying to find the right part of my brain, after a few seconds, I felt the adrenaline start, jump starting me and giving me so much more energy. I got to the clearing with professor in two and a half minutes.

When we were about six or so feet off the ground, I looked down at the Professor, "Jump!" he did so, letting go and making sure to bend his knees for the impact with the ground. I flapped a few more times, trying to to crash onto Professor. I pulled my arms in a bit, dropping altitude, then, _whoosh_, I pulled them out a bit more, slowing me enough for a running landing.

After this I looked around the clearing; all I saw were the random, strewn-about body's of K-Pro's. I ran to the small cave, along with the Professor. When I got to the opening, I looked inside. There was everyone I had been with for a day. And three more. Madi, I recognized from earlier, stood up and walked over to me.

"Hi, I said I'd talk to you later? Well, I'm Madi. Your are?" she asked as she held out her hand.

"Artsiv," said, momentarily freaked out about if she'd suddenly zap me with magical laser powers. If those ever _are _her powers. "So, what are you hated for?" I asked, trying for the sarcastic way, but the tone got lost from my mouth to her ears.

"Turning invisible, heightened senses, flexibility, and coming back from the dead. You?" she smiled this whole time, as if trying to keep me from running away by eye contact.

"I turn into a huge eagle. I have really good eyesight, but that's basically it." I barely said. I was not a brave outgoing person, so being in a conversation about the one thing that I've had to hide is a bit nerve racking. I looked around, as the conversation between me and Madi had died, and noticed that there was only two people in here that I didn't know; the mutant I rescued, and another girl (I'm guessing Katie) sitting beside Liv.

I took this free time to actually look at the mutant I had rescued; she had short, spiky auburn hair, and what looked like fox ears; she stood at about Nov'c's hight; her body build was lanky and thin; and she was wearing a soft peach colored shirt and blue shorts with a fox tail. She was constantly looking around, focusing on something, and then turning back to Nov'c, who was talking to her.

The other girl- Katie?- was standing with Nov'c and the mutant I rescued, they were all wrapped up in their conversation. Katie (I've decided that thats her) had shoulder length chocolate brown hair; she had brown eyes, but they were a bit diluted; she was tall, at about 5'7''; her face was still a bit round, and she had a few curves.

I got up and walked over to the least inhabited wall of the cave and sat down, leaning my head on the rough stone. It was so cold compared to the air around me. I closed me eyes, focusing on my acute hearing for any warning of a K-Pro, or something else. After a few seconds I heard someone get up, walk over to me, and sit beside me. I could tell it was Nov'c because of how she walked, like a dancing ballerina, light steps on her toes. She barely made any noise when she moved. She's, like, the modern ninja.

"Hey," she said in a soft voice, "Elliot's nice, you should talk to her. She wants to thank you."

I opened one eye to look at her, "Who's Elliot?"

"The mutant you saved, dumbo. She's funny, but she gets so distracted." Nov'c mumbled. She was tired, I could tell, her voice was rough and hoarse. She had most likely been talking, trying to reassure the others and keep them from mass heisaria.

"Who's the other girl?" I asked.

"Katie, she's like you, sarcastic, gets board so easily, ya know, stuff like that." Nov'c could barely talk now, her voice was so bad.

"Nov'c, get some sleep." I said, I looked outside and saw that the almost nonexistent sun had set along time ago.

"Oh thank God, I thought you never say that." Nov's mumbled as she stretched out, setting her head in my lap. I absentmindedly started to get matted in dirt and mud out of her purple locks. I sat up for awhile, watching and waiting for everyone to fall asleep, then I moved.

I got up, carefully moving Nov'c's head and setting it down without waking her, then I left the cave. I had about six hours before the sun rises at 5. I started the transformation into my huge eagle state. It started with my feet, turning them into talons that kept getting bigger and bigger until they were huge, then it moved to my legs. It covered them in rusty brown feathers and then they started to enlarge. Then my torso, them my head, and last my arms. I inwardly smiled that the long, painful process was now over.

I spread my now football field length wingspan. I started to flap, being as quiet as possible. I was off the ground now and rising fast. I was soon soaring well above six thousand feet. When I'm an eagle, my lungs are so much bigger and more efficient, like my heart, so I could fly up for miles. I flew for a long time, in one huge arch, looking for signs of trouble anywhere near our cave. I locked onto any movement with my acute raptor vision focusing my mind to my eyesight. When I was done with the arch, no danger was spotted, I landed near the cave, proud of doing this and not getting cought.

That was, until I heard, "Artsiv, so nice of you to come by." it was Nov'c. She'd woken up. Damnit! I started my change, bitting down hard on my tongue and cheeks to keep from screaming as my bones shifted and shrank, popping back into place. When it was finished, I thought I'd just pass out right there from pain and exhaustion.

"What woke you up?" I asked nonchalantly, as if commenting on the weather.

"Lets see, was it the fact my head suddenly got dropped at 10:56 at night, or the very strong, very cold wind that blew in one hour and forty-five minutes later? Ya know, I think it was the first one."

"Go ahead." I said, biting back a scream when I moved to get into the cave.

"Go ahead with what?" she asked, her voice dropping as she walked into the cave too.

"Read my the riot act, threaten me, be ready to slice off a finger with your magic sameri sword that you can always make appear with the blink of an eye." I said. I felt myself relax when I stopped moving, letting my sore bones rest for how many seconds until I had to move again. See, this is why I rarely change back and forth.

"Look, I'm not here to yell at you, and I am _not_ your mother, I just want you to know how dangerous that is."

"What are you talking about?"

"Changing and flying around in plain sight. Before we had to leave camp, I got a message from base camp _Kimono Dragon_. They've gotten new information about the K-Pros. The humans are starting to build planes now. They're going airborne. It's not safe in the air anymore, Artsiv."

"No, the air has always been safe! There is no way that they could take that away! I thought the First Mutants destroyed all the schematics for all the war time vehicles! What about that? Theres no way they could be airborne. . ." I trailed off, trying to convince myself that Nov'c was lying. There was no way. . . no possible way. . .

I felt my stomach tighten and shift. Crap. I hadn't eaten after I changed! If I change and don't eat, I throw up. On more negative about my powers. I felt my body scream with protest as I hauled myself to my feet and ran out the cave opening. I won't give you the disgusting details, but it wasn't pretty.

I fell to my hands and knees, then managed to turn over and not land in my own puke. I lay there, exhaustion claimed me and I found I couldn't move, I couldn't even talk.

"Artsiv?" I heard Nov'c call out. I heard running ballerina footsteps but I didn't see if she found me or not, because after that, my eyes unwillingly closed.

**1: now, for everyone thats reading this with a religion that took that offensively, I had no intention for it to be raciest. I, myself, am an atheist, so I think I would have noticed that if I was an anti-mutant person, that is. But yeah, I had no intention for it to be raciest, and I'm sorry if you took it that way.**

**AN~ so how do you like the third chapter? R&R please! Oh yeah! Almost forgot, I am now, officially on vacation. I will not be updating for the next few weeks, I promise to have one of the LONGEST chaps when I update next! Until I update,**

**~Crocodile Tears (Or whatever my pen name is now)**


	4. The Three Followers

**AN~ this has taken way too long, I know and I'm sorry. There are a few more OC's in this chap! Readers, look out for yours!**

**AN 2~ I think I've decided all of the OC's I'm going to use (I don't have the authors of the OC's though, sorry!). The list:**

**Conrad Reynolds; Ayame Hiroshi; Awai Hiroshi; Dillain Howard; Hunter Burden; Madigan "Madi" Whyte; Olivia Torres; Annastasia "Annie" Rija; Lieutenant Colonel William Hull; and Rai Choi. _These __might __change._**

**_WARNNG_ Some OC's have changed physically because you guys are apparently _obsessed_with black hair.**

**Artsiv**

When my eyes opened I wanted to kill myself. My head was pounding so hard I almost mistook it as a snare drum, my stomach felt like it was going to come _with_ the puke next time, and my whole body ached.

The sunlight hurt my eyes, but I could still make out the ceiling of the cave we had been in for the past two days. After a second or two of squinting against the sunlight, Nov'c's angry face consumed my vision.

"I had half a mind to leave you here." Nov'c said. Her eyes were narrowed and her jaw was set. She was pissed. I tried to sit up but my stomach was seriously hurting. I sat back against the rock wall. I saw Elly and Jove across the cave, staring at me. They looked afraid. Madi had the same expression on her face, Olivia was watching me closely, her eyes skeptical. Katie simply looked impassive, she kept clenching her fist's and then un-clenching, ready to fly into action, ready to fight _me_. Damion and James were standing practically in front of Elly and Jove. As if trying to protect them from me. Elliott was watching me, flinching when I turned to look at her.

"What?" I asked them all. It came out a lot harsher than I intended.

"You led them to us!" Olivia said all of a sudden, yelling it at me and letting it ricochet off the walls, then back at me again. I winced.

"What?" I asked again stupidly.

"You led the K-Pro's here, Artsiv." Nov'c spoke plainly at me. "They came when you were sleeping and we had to fight them off! We lost the Professor, Artsiv! All because of you." I looked at Nov'c, her eyes stared back at me, they didn't hold their usual kindness, they didn't hold anything at all. Just a wall that reflected my shocked face.

"How'd they get the Professor?" I asked, forcing myself to stand; they all backed away from me as if I had the plague.

"New technology." A new voice said simply. I turned and saw a girl about the size of Nov'c, her brown hair was down to her shoulder blades and her blue eyes seemed to hold electricity in them, they had a certain respect-demanding power, her skin was a creamy tan color; she actually looked a bit delicate. "They've been working on the serum for awhile now. That and the armor." the girl was staring me down, her eyes never leaving mine.

"What technology? What serum? What armor? _Who __are __you_?" I asked, my mind spinning.

"The technology to fool telepaths; the serum like a tranq to work on mutants; The Armor that can stand against some of the strongest hits; and I am Rai Choi. Any other questions?" she said plainly to me.

"Not at the moment." I sighed. "Do we have any water? Or food, come to think of it?" Nov'c took out a canteen of water and handed it to me. Then got out a box, took out a. . . uh . . .

"What is that?" I asked between chugging down the canteen of water.

"I'm not exactly sure, but we've deduced that it tastes a bit like a hamburger with, like, strawberry jelly on it." Nov'c said, handing _it_ to me. I took a bite, and Nov'c was right. It tasted horrible. I held my nose shut and took another bite. No matted how disgusting it tasted, I still needed food. After a few bites I gave it back, Nov'c put it back in the box. I took a look around the cave, there were five new people, including Rai, sitting on the ground or leaning against the cave wall.

There was a guy leaning against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest, a half scowl, half impassive look on his face. He was dark skinned, his hair was brown and curly, and his eyes were a light blue, he had a tall lean basket-ball player-ish build.

There were two girls sitting on the floor of the cave, they looked alike, like they could be sisters. The older one, about sixteen, had brown hair tied back in a pony tail, and dark brown eyes. The younger one, only about four, was sitting calmly in the lap of her sister, she had dark brown hair that went to her shoulders, and light brown eyes.

The last newest person was a man, he looked to be about twenty-five and had an 'Instant Respect' aura. He had blond buzz cut hair and an athletic build. His eyes were a hazel color and there were scars on his right cheek. He, like the dark skinned guy, was leaning against a wall, his face a half smirk and half impassive rather than the half scowl the other was wearing.

"Are we all just gonna stand around and stare at the poor boy?" the man with buzz-cut hair asked in a deep voice that held humor in it. I blinked a few times, the rush of water and food back in my bloodstream and stomach made me fell like I was going to be sick again.

"You Okay, kid?" the newest girl with black hair asked. "Ya look pale."

"Yeah, m'fine." I started to hear a ringing noise. I looked back around at everyone else, I noticed that Madi and James were feeling the same way. I started to feel hot all over, like I just got set on fire. There was a sharp poke on the back of my thigh, and before I knew it, I was face down on the floor. The others had sprung into action around me (minus Madi and James who had fallen down along with me). I heard the thudding of bodies hit the ground.

Nov'c was there, rolling me over onto my side and talking at me. No matter how hard I strained to hear her, I couldn't. All I heard was ringing. There was a slight tearing feeling on my thigh, and then Nov'c held up a dart with a barbed needle. A blue-ish gray-ish liquid was still streaming from the needle tip. Nov'c tossed it aside and then went over to James and Madi. She got both of the dart out of them, then went to fight with the others.

The ringing in my ears was getting worse, and I finally let it take me. I closed my eyes and let the dark claim my brain. I hate going unconscious.

When I opened my eyes, I felt a lot better than when I woke up the last time. The back of my thigh felt like it had been stung by a bee, though. Nov'c was across the cave, working on James and Madi. I tried to move but I found it quite difficult to even blink.

"Don't even try. Its impossible." said Rai, bending over so that I could see her. I sighed (witch was the extent of me moving at the moment). "the serum will take about ten minutes to were off." Rai said, walking away from me. I waited and the ten minutes slowly passed. I tried to move my hand and found that it was responsive. I sat up.

I looked around the cave, it was the same. Elly, Jove and the smallest new girl were playing tic-tack-toe, drawing the playing field in the sand covered ground. The two newest guys were talking in one of the corners, Olivia, Katie and Elliott were talking in the other corner, Nov'c was practicing her martial arts with and Damion and Madi and James were propped up against one of the walls, a dazed look still on their faces. I stood, using the cave's jagged wall as support. I walked out to the mouth of the cave, leaning against the opening.

This was all my fault. _I _led them to our camp, _I_ got the professor captured, _I_ got them into another fight. It was me who was supposed to keep them safe, that was the _entire __point_ of turning last night.

"Hey," I spun around and saw Nov'c standing on the other side of the cave opening. "It's not entirely your fault. It was our fault too." she refused to look at me as she spoke, and instead looked at the great orange sunset to the west.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, it was partially my fault. I was in Professors group, and I was supposed to be his cover, to take care of anything in his way, sort of like his linebacker. I failed. I missed one of the agents and they got Professor. I blamed you because, I was ashamed. I didn't want it to be my fault." she took a breath, still refusing to meet my gaze. "_You_ may have led them here, but it was _my_job to keep them away from the professor." and with that she left, going back inside the cave.

I waited outside, letting the last light of the day reflect in my eyes and turn them a deep red-ish color. The soft breeze blew my hair out of my face and I waited for the darkness, waited for the stars to come out.

I easily found the North Star, following the end of the Big Dipper. We needed to move. If even one of the K-Pro agents had radioed for back-up, we'd be swamped by agents by morning.

If we stopped at the small colony a few miles west we could re stock and then move out. If we continued west we could make it to base camp _Kimono Dragon_ in three days, not including sleeping and eating breaks. But if we restocked and I changed and we flew there, we could make it there in two. But if someone spotted me flying back to the cave they'd be able to see me flying for sure in brod daylight.

Better play it safe for now.

I walked back into the cave, Nov'c had gotten a fire started and was boiling some water in a large pot over the fire. I guess there was a stream near by and I was unconscious for longer than I thought.

"I thought, to limit the chance of being sneaked up on we could take sleeping shifts." I announced to the mostly quiet group. Faces turned to me with varying levels of enthusiasm.

"I'll take first watch." the newer guy with Buzz-cut hair volunteered. He walked over to me and shook my hand. "Don't believe we've met. Lieutenant Colonel William Hull. But _please_call me William." he smiled at me.

"Uh, Artsiv, no last name. Nice to, uh, meat you?" I said, suspiciously **[1]**. William just smiled a bit more and then walked out to the mouth of the cave. I followed and sat on a chair looking thing made from the cave mouth. I watched, not really thinking, but still paying attention to everything around me. It was a bit hard, not to think about anything but not fall asleep.

I don't know how long I was out there, but it was a long time after the fie inside got put out, and now there was nothing cutting through the cold of late fall air. (by my calculations since I don't have a calender) William seemed to think the same thing, I saw him start to rub his arms.

I closed my eyes for a little bit, enjoying the silence in the air. Tonight would have been a perfect night to change, but I wasn't going to risk that for awhile. I'm _not_ loosing anymore people.

After a minute, or an hour, or four, Nov'c came out and tapped me on the shoulder. She stood there and Olivia was beside her. William and I want back into the cave. I chose a place near the wall and laid down. As soon as my head hit my arm (witch was serving as a pillow) I was asleep.

When I woke up the sun was barely up. I forced myself to stand and stretch. We'd be walking today. Nov'c had fallen asleep a bit in front of me. I shook her awake. She sat up and her eyes were instantly looking around and searching for threats.

"Hey," I said to get her attention. "We need to move. I think we need to get as far away from this cave as soon as possible." Nov'c nodded, then stood up and began to stretch. I sat against the wall of the cave, letting the harsh rock cut into the back of my neck and my back. The cold of the wall kept me half awake, and when the sun started to get brighter I stood and woke everyone else up.

Nov'c told of the plan everyone agreed that it was time to move. We got what little we had and stated west toward base camp.

After about and hour of walking we crossed paths with the 'U' shaped town I saved Elliott from. As we walked toward it I noticed Elliott, who had been traveling by flips, jumps, cartwheels, and somersaults, started walking closer to me, and when we waited outside for Katie and Olivia to get as much food and water as they could get Elliott was basically glued to my side. She was afraid.

Yeah, yeah, most of you are going '_What __was __your __first __clue, __dummy?'_, but whatever. I had never seen someone with a look on their face that looked even remotely as scared as Elliott's did at that moment. When Olivia and Katie got back and we started walking, Elliott's face seemed to let go of all the fear it held earlier and she started to cartwheel again.

It was about noon when we took a break. Olivia took out the food and passed it around, Nov'c and William handed out the water. We were on rations so lunch went by fast. Most of us slept for an hour, then we were back on the road. A few times Elly and Jove got tired of walking and James on Damion would pick them up and put them on their shoulders for awhile. Things were going better than I thought they would.

It was a lot of walking until the sun set on the first day. It got dark quickly and there was no visible moon. As much as I wanted to keep going, we couldn't see.

"Alright, lets set up camp." I said. Rai picked up a stick and set it on fire with a quick jolt of electricity. Nov'c had gathered up leaves and sticks and Rai dropped the stick she had into the pile. It caught fire and we could see. Jame and Damion went to laying out the blankets they had brought from the cave. Nov'c walked over to me.

"You know we were being followed the entire time, right?" she asked me.

"Yeah. What do you want to do?" I asked, looking down at her.

"If its K-Pro we'll have to go off coarse, so we don't lead them to base camp."

"And if it's not. . . now would be the time to find out. Feel up to a reckon mission?"

"Lets head out after camp is set." I nodded and Nov'c and I parted ways. She went to held pass out food and water and I went out with James and William to get firewood.

"Please tell me you knew we were being followed." William said casually to me.

"You knew too, huh?" I mumbled, breaking off a tree branch.

"I think everyone knows. Even little Elly knew." he told me. I too a deep breath. If even Elly knew then whoever or whatever it is couldn't be K-Pro.

"How many would you say were following?" I asked with a forced calm.

"I'd say about three." William answered, picking up stray sticks and leaved that were on the ground. I nodded. Me and Nov'c could take three. James caught up to us, his arms full of wood, and we all walked back to camp.

Soon everyone was around the fire, talking and laughing and swapping stories. I laughed along with them, but kept a class red level five alarm going in my head. I listened for even the quietest sound, looked for the smallest movement, and I kept a constant watch on everyone.

Soon Nov'c collected the remaining food and water and packed it back into the backpack. The others went to sleep accept me, Nov'c and William.

"Ready?" I asked Nov'c. She nodded and we back tracked the path we had walked today. My ears were straining to hear any noise and my eyes kept doing sweeping for movement. Then I heard it. Three different people breathing deeply, as if asleep. I tapped Nov'c on the shoulder and put a finger to my lips.

I turned off the path and toward the three people that were hidden from my sight. After a few minutes of walking we saw the flickering light of a dying fire. There were three people laying around it.

One was curled around the fire, he had black hair, and even laying down I could tell he was about as tall as me, if not taller, and he was built like, well, a tall Wolverine.

Another one, a girl, had wavy platinum blonde hair and was dressed like a hippie. She also had an over the shoulder bag that had opened a bit. I could see a few books and sketch pads wedged into the relatively small space. There was also an acustic guitar case she was curled protectively around.

There was one other girl. She had dark chocolate brown hair that was down to her lower back. She was turned toward where I was lurking so I could see a long scar going across her left eye, down her cheekbone and saw the end at her collar bone. She was wearing low cut midnight blue shirt with a high cut ice-blue shirt underneath and midnight blue shorts. On her head was a white head band and draped over her hip was a white tale.

In an instant the tall guy with black hair was gone, as if he fell through the ground itself and I felt two arm wrapping around my torso and the the sensation of falling into complete and utter black. One thought broke through the adrenaline;

_Oh God, I'm not passing out **again** am I?_

**1: well if you were in war time and this new person took your hand and asked your name you'd be a bit suspicious too!**

**AN~ I am _so_ sorry for taking this long. First I was typing a lot on this story, then I had writers block, then I sort for forgot about this story, and then I was typing a lot and the the charger to my computer got broken and the battery for my computer is shot so it only has, like, 20 seconds of battery and so I tried to fix the charger but I just broke it more, and then I got the new charger and now I'm updating please don't kill me!**


	5. What Should Have Been Done

**AN~ fifth chap! Woop! Hope you enjoy!**

**Artsiv**

It felt like being pulled into a shadow. Like being sucked into a vacuum. I couldn't breath and it felt like my skin was clinging to my bones, as if dried up. I tried to see but all I saw a utter black. I tried my powers but the feathers were just painfully ripped from their place. I bit back a scream.

Soon the world came back into view. I collapsed to my knees, sucking in air like a fish out of water. The other two people from around the fire were up and ready to fight. The girl with blonde hair had vines around her arms, controlling them like a puppet master. The second girl had morphed into a Siberian husky, and piercing blue eyes stared at me from above a mouth full of canine teeth and muzzle.

Nov'c was first to react, taking on the really tall Wolverine, William was going after wolf-girl, but just when he was getting close to her, he wasn't there any more. Like he had turned invisible. That left the hippie to me. She sized me up, taking into account everything external about me.

I waited until she made the first move, I was never good at offense. She sent vines at my arms, lacing my shoulders with thick green leathery plants. She bound my arms to my side. I activated my powers, enlarging my arms and shoulders painfully. I felt the vines start to tear.

I felt the vines drop to the ground and I quickly deactivated my powers. As soon as my shoulder popped into place I knew I had to take offensive. I lunged, going for her ankles. She side stepped but didn't counter attack. A pacifist? In these times? This girl was done for! I rolled and hit her ankles hard with my shoulder, knocking her over. She tried to get up but I had already pinned her shoulders. William and Nov'c were still fighting the other two around me.

"Call off your friends." I said to her, she nodded. In a second there was a wall of tall thick grass between Nov'c and tall Wolverine and William (who had become visible) and the wolf-girl. They both looked at me in confusion. I let the hippie up and then stood my self.

"Why were you following us?" Nov'c demanded.

"We want to get to Kimono_ Dragon_ just as much as you do." Said the hippie. The wall of grass receded back into the earth and the tall Wolverine and the wolf girl came to stand by the hippie.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I'm Dillain Howard." said the hippie.

"I'm Anastasia Rija." said the wolf girl, changing back into her human form.

"I'm Conrad Reynolds." said the tall Wolverine

"Nov'c, no last name." Nov'c said.

"Artsiv." I said.

"William." said William, holding out his hand for a hand shake.

"Isn't 'Artsiv' eagle in Armenian?" Conrad asked me. I nodded. "Got anything to do with your powers?" I nodded again.

"So that was _you_?" Dillain asked me.

"What was me?" I asked stupidly.

"That huge eagle we saw flying the other night." Dillain informed me. I winced.

"Yeah, that was me." I could _feel_ the annoyance coming off Nov'c in waves. I didn't dare look over at her. The six of us stood there for a few seconds of awkward silence.

"Are we just going to stand here, or are we going to go back to camp?" William asked.

"'We'?" Dillain asked.

"Well, yeah. You might as well come, you're following us anyway." Nov'c said, turning around and starting back toward camp. Conrad raised an eyebrow at Nov'c's blalently annoyed tone. I shook my head as if to say- 'Not now.' Conrad nodded his head in understanding. I turned around and followed Nov'c, motioning for the others to follow over my shoulder.

"Is Professor Xavier still with your group?" I heard Dillain ask, I winced again. I didn't turn around though, I let William explain what happened, he was much better with words than I am.

As I walked I looked up to the star dotted sky, and the almost over whelming urge to sprout my wings and take flight right then almost consumed me. I almost did it. I knew I wanted to. I jerked my head from the sky and pressed my arms to my sides.

_You're not gonna fly! You're not gonna fly! You're not gonna fly!_ I thought over and over again. I forced my eyes to stare, almost unblinkingly, at the ground. I traced the edges of the leaves with my eyes, and the gentle curve of the path under my feet. Soon I was back at camp, my chance of taking flight long gone. Conrad, Dillain, and Anastasia laid down around the dying embers of the fire, and I lay down too. I moved away from the group, wanting the solitude for just a few moments before sleep claimed my mind.

I rolled onto my back, looking up at the expanse of midnight sky above me. I had always loved the stars, they were always a comfort to me. I could let my mind wonder and not focus on anything. Soon my lids were heavy and they dropped over my fierce eyes. In minutes, I was asleep.

I woke up to the crying whines of a wolf. My eyes jetted open and I automatically jumped to my feet. I took in the scene around me, a wolf had it's sharp, canine teeth bared, its ears back, and was growling at Rai Choi. Rai had what could only be described as, a ball of electricity swirling around her fist in controlled chaos. There was a scowl painted across Rai's face and she was glaring menacingly at the wolf. This was bad. I leaped forward and pushed Rai's shoulder back and knelt down on one knee and pushed Anastasia back.

"ENOUGH!" I yelled, rousing the rest of the camp that wasn't already awake. Rai was still glaring over my head at what she could see of Anastasia. "Drop the electricity, Choi." I said, looking directly into Rai's eyes, the electricity around her hand disappeared. "Change back, Rija." I said, turning my eyes onto the wolf. Reluctantly Anastasia transformed back.

"She started it!" Anastasia said, pointing to Rai. Rai started to stride angrily forward, and I caught her by the shoulders.

"I don't care, it's over. Now _cut it out_, and get ready to move on. We leave right after breakfast." I said. I stalked over to one of the corners of camp.

"Nice work, dad." Nov'c said, punching me lightly on my shoulder. I rolled my eyes and watched as the rag-tag group got breakfast rolling.

We were soon on the road. I kept a watchful eye on Rai and Anastasia, but the two kept apart. It was soon lunchtime and Nov'c pulled out the supply of food she had in her pack. The lunch line started, and Nov'c pack of food was soon empty. Olivia opened her pack for the rest of our little group.

There was a thirty minute rest and then we got up and continued to walk. By now Kimono_ Dragon _was about two and a half days away. I remembered how muck food and water Olivia had had in her pack- our last pack. We wouldn't have enough food to last if we kept eating like we were.

"We need to start rations." I said, leaning over to Nov'c. She nodded in agreement.

"We needed to be on rations from the beginning." She sighed. "Do you know if there are any colonies around here?"

"No." I sighed this time too. I knew were this conversation was going.

"You might have to use your powers for a look."

**AN~ Cliffie! So sorry for not updating for, like, three months, and when I finally _do_ I leave you hanging. But, *sigh* I have writers block with this story.**


	6. IMPORTANT!

**AN~ Sorry I haven't updated recently, but the computer I use to write my Fan Fiction stuff on is, well, I don't know exactly, but it won't turn on. So until further notice, I will not be updating. Sorry. Right now I'm typing on the new family computer which is weird, because there is no privacy in this house. At all. And the font's are weird, so I'm just no going to work on it and so there. **

**You Are Now Exciting Dreamland Readers: Really sorry, but I still need to finish the next chapter, and it's on the coputer that won't turn on. But I promise, when my computer starts working, I will finish the chapter and post ASAP!**

**World War III Readers: So sorry, but I think the next chapter is finished and all I'd need to do is update. Really sorry.**

**Benders Of Weapon X Readers: KK Rene is doing the next chapter so I'll be able to post that, but if my computer isn't fixed by then, you'll just have to wait.**

**Get Away Readers: The next chap I still need to write, so it'll be a rather long wait**

**Snatched Readers: The next chap is half-way finished, but I still need to write.**

**Tidal Breaker Readers: sooooooo sorry! the next chap is about 3/4 of the way finished, so, it won't be long after the computer's fixed.**

**Would You Do It? Readers: The next chap I've started on, but it's not even 1/4 of the way done. Sorry.**

**Read On-**

**Writer Under The Stairs**

**P.S. This is the same on all of my stories, so if you're reading more than one of mine, you don't need to check it out.**


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